Cw's Founding Fathers Confront Slavery Anew

Many Owned Servants, But Some Questioned Practice

WILLIAMSBURG — PEOPLE WILL WALK UP TO GARLAND WOOD, WHO PORTRAYS GEORGE WASHINGTON AT COLONIAL WILLIAMSBURG, AND POINT OUT THAT HE'S A HYPOCRITE.

"They'll just come out and say, 'How can you say you're struggling for American liberty when you're a slaveholder?' " Wood said.

But, hey, it could be worse.

He could be playing Thomas Jefferson.

This winter, researchers concluded that Jefferson probably fathered at least one child by a slave-mistress, Sally Hemings. The researchers looked at blood samples from descendants of Jefferson's family and those who trace their roots to Hemings. The findings were published in the journal Nature.

The research puts Bill Barker, who plays Jefferson, in a tough spot. After the findings were announced, Barker said he would stay in character when visitors confront him about Hemings.

"They might ask Mr. Jefferson about the rumors they have heard," he said. And he might reply, "That's an abrupt question to be posed directly to me in polite society."

Starting this month, Barker - and others who portray founding fathers - will be confronting the issue of slavery on a more regular basis. The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation has chosen "Enslaving Virginia" as its theme for 1999 to tell the story of how slavery developed here. It will show visitors a different side of America's patriots.

Washington, Patrick Henry and Peyton Randolph, the first president of the Continental Congress, all owned slaves.

One program to start this spring with Enslaving Virginia, called "The Gentlemen's Men," will feature the slaves of Jefferson, Washington and Randolph. The slaves will talk about what the men were like as masters.

For example, visitors may hear Jefferson's slave talk about how "Master Jefferson don't care if he sells a wife away from her husband."

Rodney Pressley, a black employee at the foundation, said the founding fathers had a side people don't often see; they took part in something cruel. Making excuses for their behavior could offend some visitors, he said.

"The rich, the members of the slave-owning class, were the Jeffersons, the Patrick Henrys. You can't say 'It's evil and terrible to own slaves and yet these men are great,' " said Pressley, who works in the Colonial Capitol area where the costumed patriots often speak.

Patrick Henry owned more than 50 slaves and did not free them when he died, as some masters did. While he wrote letters saying he thought that slavery was evil, Henry believed he had to keep the slaves for his family's sake, said Bill Weldon, who portrays Henry.

"According to all our sensibilities, we say 'wrong, wrong, wrong.' But the way they looked at it, to free their slaves would have caused a hardship to their families."

In a 1773 letter, Henry described feeling torn about owning slaves: "Would any one believe that I am Master of slaves of my own purchase! I am drawn along by (the) general inconvenience of living without them. I will not, I cannot justify it."

Steve Elliott, vice president of education at the foundation, believes good can come out of seeing this side of the patriots. People may relate to the men more if they see them as more human.

"There's nothing wrong with realizing that these were people like us," he said. "They had great thoughts, they did great deeds, and they had some ideas and did some things that we look at very differently today. Unless you talk about all of that, it's not honest."

The Colonial Capitol building, itself a symbol of the patriots' cries for liberty, was the place where racial slavery became law. When the Capitol was completed, one of the first things lawmakers did was to discuss and adopt the slave code of 1705.

Legislators revised the laws supporting slavery during the 1700s. They eased some rules in the later part of the century, but not much. Even as the House of Burgesses sought independence from Britain, its members did not free black residents.

Slaves could not marry, move or defend themselves against people who attacked them. They could not own guns, hold office or testify against any white person in court. A master could kill a slave in the course of punishing him without fear of being charged.

One of the programs visitors see in the Historic Area now is a re-enactment of the trial of Ned, based on the real case of a slave accused of stealing someone's property. The trial is re-enacted in the Courthouse, complete with Ned dragging iron chains behind him. Visitors are told that Ned was hanged.

Garland Wood, who portrays George Washington, said he was prepared for the topic of slavery. Visitors ask him about it often, he said.

They ask him how he can call himself a proponent of liberty when he denies it to blacks.

"They are two different issues," Wood says, playing Washington's character. "Under the laws of Virginia, it's not illegal to own slaves.

"But what parliament and the great ministry of Great Britain are attempting to do by depriving me of my liberty is illegal."